A Century-Old Seattle Home Was Designed to Embrace Its Eccentricities

The owners of this Seattle home had lived in the two-bedroom, two-bathroom space for about a year before they decided to move forward with a remodel. When that time came, they enlisted the help of longtime friend Ian Butcher, founding partner at Best Practice Architecture, and his team.

Rafael Soldi

At the beginning, the project was a more modest endeavor—transforming the basement into an ADU, improving the kitchen and two existing bedrooms, and turning the loft space into a home office. But, Ian says, as the project progressed, the owners decided they wanted to think bigger and replace the loft with a second-story primary suite addition.

Rafael Soldi

“The existing house had been remodeled and changed in the ‘80s, and while it had good Craftsman bones, it was in serious need of improvements,” Ian says. “The rooms were all fairly small, and the organization of the spaces needed to be reconsidered for better flow and furnishing options.”

Rafael Soldi

A design consideration was figuring out how to make the home kid-friendly, but not a home for kids since the couple had their first child during the process. Additionally, since they’re both in creative fields, they weren’t afraid of pushing the envelope and “embracing the weird.” That meant Ian and team were able to go bold with color.

Rafael Soldi

“Our studio is somewhat known for our use of color, which was originally a cost-effective strategy to impart some design allure to various projects with limited budgets,” he explains. “Through these early projects, we liked how color can be used to define three-dimensional spaces, and we love color. We continue to look for opportunities to deploy colorful elements in our projects, but we are very deliberate about the extent to which they are not merely decorative, but a way to imply spatial relationships. And it’s fun!”

Rafael Soldi

Ian says the biggest change was in the basement, which had low ceilings due to poor decisions on structural consideration and existing utilities below the ceiling framing. “We completely reworked the layout to create a proper, modest apartment that could function independently or as an extension of the house,” he explains. “We worked with our engineer to clean up the old ceiling framing, removing several dropped beams to create a clean ceiling.”

Rafael Soldi

On the main floor, they reshaped the kitchen, which was originally poorly laid out and had some tired finishes. A built-in banquette and custom cabinets were installed.

Rafael Soldi

The dining room had a wooden column in the middle of the space that made placing a dining table tricky, so they designed a custom steel “dogleg” column to better position the dining table.

Rafael Soldi

Ian and team also made minor modifications to the layout of the existing main floor bathroom and bedrooms. A new plywood-clad open stairway was added, which leads to the new primary suite.

Rafael Soldi

In the upper floor addition, Ian and team knew that the lofted space would feature beautiful lake views—the home is nestled between Lake Washington and a nature preserve. To capitalize on that opportunity, they were inspired to give it a tree house feel.

Rafael Soldi

“Both the shape and the window placements were influenced by the mature trees on the site,” Ian says. “And even the material selections in the primary bathroom—sage greens, textures, and warm wood—were informed by being nestled amongst the trees.”

Rafael Soldi

The finished home is a personality-filled, versatile space. It features so many interesting design details, yet it’s functional enough for the family. The ADU could be used for multigenerational living in the future. 

And Ian is pretty sure the owners love it: “The best example is they recently got married and used their house as the venue.”